CARDINAL ROBERT SARAH, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, has reportedly said that priests are not bound to wash the feet of women on Holy Thursday. He told reporters in Rome that a priest “has to decide in accord with his own conscience, and according to the purpose for which the Lord instituted this feast”.

I am surprised to hear the cardinal in charge of liturgy contradict what Pope Francis has stipulated, namely, that the traditional washing of the feet at the Mass of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday should not be confined to males.